Searching for Happiness but Finding a Miracle

Every summer at Lake Athens, happiness unfolds with special needs and foster kids at a water sports camp.

Skiing With The Galilean ignites joy in those suffering with loss.

I experienced this recently with these precious folks.

You can too.

Live every day for your dream

June is a happy time at Lake Athens and Lake Marble Falls, Texas.

Every summer, Skiin’ With the Galilean (SWTG), a Christian day camp, shines a message of hope with a splash in two of Texas’ beautiful lakes.

Volunteers use their boats to take orphan, foster and special-needs kids tubing, wake boarding and the like.

As a boat captain, I’m lucky to spend a day on the water with these kids.

One day, while waiting for my group, an 11-year-old boy walks up and says, “Do you remember me from last year?”

I look down, “I’m so sorry, I’m terrible with names.”

“Collin,” he said.

And then he hands me this cactus.

“This is for you, Mr. Steve.”

I was speechless.

An orphaned boy remembers my name and gives me an inflatable cactus.

A plant that . . .

• thrives in desserts
• endures droughts
• survives scarcity

Wow, I’m thinking this kid is teaching me.

Cacti flourish in lifeless conditions.  Why?

Because they make the most out of less.

The ancient plant has made a living by adapting to scarcity.

And so is my buddy Collin.

In a sense, we’re all orphans dealing with our own tragedies.

And yet we still search for hope . . .

• not just because of the brevity of life
• but because of its incompleteness

We want to find completion.

I think Collin is saying, “I want to live in spite of my orphanage.”

After he gave me this inflatable plant, he smiled and said, “Where’s the fishing group?  I’m going fishing and I want to catch a big bass.”

Loss is a reminder to keep dreaming

After Collin scampered off, I walked to my boat with four wide-eyed boys.

We launched into the morning sun and my phone rings with sad news.

My 57-year-old brother-in-law had just been found dead in his home.

David was single with no spouse, no kids.

He was very close to his mother, Trudy.

And Trudy, 90 at the time, was devastated especially after her other son, Richard, became a quadriplegic from a botched spine surgery.

Yes, you grieve.  Yes, you suffer.

And maybe for a long time.

But, with the pain, keep dreaming.  Keep living.

That’s why I think my courageous mother-in-law said . . .

“I’m hurting, and a fourth of me is missing but I’m going to move on.”

How?

Opt for big dreams, not little games

“Some men die by shrapnel, some go down in flames, but most men perish inch by inch, in play at little games.” The Night They Burned Shanghai, Robert Abrahams  

That poem was published in the Saturday Evening Post in 1938 just as World War II was ramping up.

It speaks to the trap of apathy when we are paralyzed by tragedies.

Clutching sorrow traps us in misery.

So why not turn it all around by taking a stand for your great purpose?

Message from the first Christian martyr

That’s what Stephen, the first Christian martyr did.

His life was tragically cut short.

But, look what he did as he died . . .

“But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.”  Acts 7: 55-59

Don’t give up on your dreams when you’re suffering.

Refuse pity and choose poise.

• You are better for faith
• You are better for hope
• You are better for love

That’s what my young friend Collin is doing. 

It’s what my mother-in-law Trudy is doing.

Let’s do this together.